Cracks in brick wall

I have a stair step crack in one of my exterior brick walls. A structural engineer looked at it, and found no evidence of foundation problems, etc. I recently purchased the house. I have been using a cold chisel and hammer to chip away the old mortar before tuck pointing. Do any of you professionals have a better/easier/faster way to do this?

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[quote=bjturner;1030207]I have a stair step crack in one of my exterior brick walls. A structural engineer looked at it, and found no evidence of foundation problems, etc. I recently purchased the house. I have been using a cold chisel and hammer to chip away the old mortar before tuck pointing. Do any of you professionals have a better/easier/faster way to do this?[/quote

A 4 or 4 and a half inch grinder with a masonary disc will make much shorter work of it.

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The cut needs to be about 1/2 deep so there's enough in the crack to stay stuck.
Mist down the brick so it does not wick up the miosture in the morter.
If there's a more then a few spots that need to be repaired buy a morter bad, a pastery bag also works to apply it.
Make sure to not leave a bunch of loose morter on top of the brick. wipe it down with a damp rag.

When using a disc cutter, it's easy on the horizontal joints, but be careful when doing the vertical joints; it is very easy to nick the bricks immediately above and below the joint. I prefer to use hammer and chisel to cut out the verticals.

you get what you pay for,,, 'less' would be a wax crayon of the right shade we use 1/4", 5/16", 3/8", 7/16", & 1/2" ranging in price from $ 50 to $ 225,,, $ 39 is cheap but that's the quality apron/vest stores sell jomama's a pro & we are also - knowing what are the 'right' tools separates us from bargain-hunting diy'ers,,, don't assume he, i, & any other contractor doesn't also look for value every time we spend/invest $$$